Back in December, I reported on the story of the Norwegian comedian with a line in slapstick jokes about the Holocaust. One result of Otto Jespersen’s stab at comedy was the condemnation of the PFU, Norway’s press authority.

The Israeli scholar Manfred Gerstenfeld, who has written widely and authoritatively on antisemitism in Nordic countries, has now brought his own complaint to the PFU concerning TV2 - the same station which broadcast Jespersen.

Here’s a press release from the Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs:

Dr. Manfred Gerstenfeld, Chairman of the Board of Fellows of the Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs, a leading Israeli policy research institute, has submitted a complaint with The Norwegian Press Complaints Commission (Pressens Faglige Utvalg - PFU). Dr. Manfred Gerstenfeld claims that, in an interview broadcast on TV 2 on 1 March 2009, his words were deliberately distorted. The TV2 interviewer, Fredrik Graesvik, falsely stated that Gerstenfeld had called the Norwegians ‘a barbarian and unintellectual’ people. This statement was later published in many

Norwegian papers, as well as Swedish ones, and has caused damage to Dr. Gerstenfeld’s reputation. The article accompanying the interview on the TV2 website says falsely that Dr. Gerstenfeld considers Norway to be the most anti-Semitic nation in Europe. The Dagen daily of 2 April also quoted additional false text attributed to Dr. Gerstenfeld by Mr. Graesvik. The complaint asks PFU to condemn TV2 and its conduct. and to grant Dr. Gerstenfeld airtime in the form of a live interview in order to correct this matter. This last request has been turned down by TV2.